Attached is the initial response received on Jan. 14, 2014 from the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General’s office regarding the complaint letter sent by attorney Dr. William Pepper on Dec. 12, 2013. The Inspector General has sent the information provided in the Pepper letter to NIST management for a response.

Individual citizens are encouraged to write or call the DoC Inspector General’s office themselves to let them know you are interested in this issue and to insist that the Inspector General ensure that the NIST be open and transparent here, and to also ensure that there is no conflict of interest. Anyone involved in the original report, which is now under scrutiny with allegations of impropriety, should be precluded from the response activity.

Yes, we need people to get in touch to effectively put the Inspector General on notice that we will not just stand by and allow NIST to investigate themselves, unless it is done in such an open way as to ensure that previous involvement in the producing of the report that this evidence invalidates, is not a factor in the conclusions that they reach. No surprise in the response itself that the OIG has passed this issue back to NIST, but we must ensure that NIST are made to respond in a meaningful way. If the OIG is not capable of eliciting a meaningful response, we will move this to a level where NIST can be made to respond appropriately. This effort, at this stage, depends on gaining support in numbers from grassroots supporters in our movement.